The new year celebrations
were born out of fear and myth. There is an ancient Chinese legend that told of
a man-eating predatory beast called Nian. This creature was fierce, and had a
long head and sharp horn. Nian dwelled deep in the sea most of the year, but on
every Chinese New Year Eve it climbed onto the shore, and devour livestock and
harm humans in a near-by village. Every Chinese New Year's Eve, the villagers
would take their old and young and head for the mountains to hide from the
monster.

One Chinese New
Year's Eve, a grey haired man appeared in the village. He asked permission to
stay for the night and assured everyone that he would chase away the beast. No
one believed him. When it was time to go hide in the mountains, the old man
steadfastly refused to do that. The villagers departed without him.

The beast arrived at
the village to wreck havoc as usual, but it was met with a sudden burst of
exploding firecrackers. Startled by the noise, the flashes of light and red banners
flying about, it turned about and fled back into the sea.

The next day, when the
villagers returned from the mountains, they found everything intact and safe.
The old man had left, but they found the remains of the three precious items he
had used to chase the beast Nian away. They all agreed that the old man must be
a deity who had come to help free them of the beast.

From then on, every
Chinese New Year's Eve, families hung red banners, set off fire crackers, and
light their lamps the whole night through, awaiting the Chinese New Year. The
custom spread far and wide and became a grand traditional celebration of the
"Passing of Nian" ("Nian" in Chinese means
"year"). So celebrating the Chinese New Year is "passing of
Nian" or "Guo Nian" in Chinese.

Today, the 15-day New Year
festivities are celebrated with a week of vacation in metropolitan areas of China. Much
like the Western New Year (January 1st), the biggest celebration is on the eve
of the holiday. But aside from New Year's Eve, there are other important days
of the 15-day New Year Festival, including:

JIE CAI CENG: Welcoming the Gods of Wealth and ProsperityOn the 5th day of New Year's, it is
believed that the gods of prosperity come down from the heavens. Businesses
will often participate in setting off firecrackers as they believe it will
bring them prosperity and good fortune for their business.

YUAN XIAO JIE: Festival of
LanternsThe 15th day of the New Year is
known as The Festival of Lanterns and marks the end of the Chinese New Year
celebrations. All types of lanterns are lit throughout the streets and often
poems and riddles are often written for entertainment. There are also paper
lanterns on wheels created in the form of either a rabbit or the animal of the
year (Pig for 2007). The rabbit lantern stems from a Chinese myth or fairytale
about a female goddess named "Chang E" who jumped onto the moon. So
she wouldn't travel alone, she brought a rabbit with her to keep her company. It
is said that if your heart is pure enough, you can see the goddess Chang E and
her rabbit on the moon on this day.

Called "hong bao" in
Mandarin, the red envelopes filled with money are typically only given to
children or unmarried adults with no job. If you're single and working and
making money, you still have to give the younger ones the hong bao money. The
color red denotes good luck/fortune and happiness/abundance in the Chinese
Culture and is often worn or used for decoration in other celebrations.

The Dragon is present in many
Chinese cultural celebrations as the Chinese people often think of themselves
as descendants of the mythical creature. On the fifth day of the New Year when
many people have to start going back to work, they will also have the Dancing
Dragons perform in the front of the office building. On the 15th day of the New
Year (Yuan Xiao Jie), they will also have a lot of dancing dragon performances.
The dragon represents prosperity, good luck and good fortune.

Traditional Foods

The Chinese New Year's Eve meal is
the most important dinner of the year. Typically, families gather at a
designated relative's house for dinner, but these days, many families often
celebrate New Year's Eve dinner at a restaurant. Many restaurants require
reservations months in advance. There are also some families that hire a
professional chef to come cook at their house. Chefs are often busy running
from one home to another cooking dinners for different families on New Year's Eve.

Chinese New Year is a 15-day
celebration and each day, many families rotate celebrations between homes of
their relatives. The festivies are day-long and sometimes, a family ends up
cooking two meals for their relatives, once at lunch and once at dinner. These
dishes used to be all made from scratch, but now people can easily buy them
prepackaged at the supermarkets.

a sweet soup made of
cut-up fruit: Cut fruit is added into hot/warm water which has had a thickening
agent (like cornstarch).

Based on the Lunar
Calendar

The date of Chinese New Year changes
each year as it is based on the lunar calendar. While the western Gregorian
calendar is based on the earth’s orbit around the sun, China and most
Asian countries use the lunar calendar that is based on the moon’s orbit around
the earth. Chinese New Year always falls on the second new moon after the
winter solstice. Other Asian countries such as Korea,
Japan and Vietnam also
celebrate new year using the lunar calendar. Though Buddhism and Daoism have
unique customs during the New Year, the Chinese New Year is far older than both
religions. Chinese New Year is rooted in much a celebration of spring just like
Easter or Passover.

Depending on where rice is grown in China, the rice season lasts from roughly May to
September (north China),
April to October (Yangtze River Valley), or March to November (Southeast
China). The New Year was likely the start of preparations for a
new growing season. Spring cleaning is a common theme
during this time. Chinese people clean out their homes during the holiday. There
is another possible reason for the New Year celebration just a way to break up
the boredom of the long winter months.

About Me

Pamela K. Kinney is a published author of horror, science fiction, fantasy, poetry, and nonfiction ghost books published by Schiffer Publishing. Her latest fiction includes short horror stories, "Donating" in Inhuman Magazine, Issue 5 December 2011 and "Bottled Spirits" (a Predator and Editor 2012 winner and a 2013 WSFA Small Press Award runner up), “Azathoth is Here" reprinted by Innsmouth Press in Innsmouth Magazine: Collected Issues 1-4 in Kindle and ePub formats, short dark fantasy, “Devil in the Details,” included in Harboring Secrets anthology and short horror story, “Let Demon Dogs Lie” released in Southern Haunt: Devils in the Darkness anthology March 2014, and coming soon, a fantasy short story, “Weregoat” in Strangely Funny II anthology. And of course, she has her horror and dark fantasy tales collection in print and download, Spectre Nightmares and Visitations, published by Under the Moon.
She also has done acting on stage and in films, is a Master Costumer, costuming since 1972, and she even does paranormal investigating, including for DVDs for Paranormal World Seekers, filmed by AVA Productions.